


Watch Me Unravel

by SongAboutExiles



Category: Leverage, White Collar
Genre: Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Resolved Sexual Tension, Those Two Things Are Not Mutually Exclusive, Young Neal Caffrey, but not too young
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 06:18:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16057280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SongAboutExiles/pseuds/SongAboutExiles
Summary: When he sees a young, beautiful man at a fancy gala standing next to the mark, Eliot knew it could go one of two ways. He picks the one where they end up in bed, trying not to feel anything for each other, and failing miserably.





	Watch Me Unravel

The young man stood out in the crowd, and with this crowd, that was saying something. He was an island of class and good taste and genuine beauty, surrounded by the insecure overcompensation of the glitterati.

And he was working that crowd, and the man next to him, like...well, like a Sophie. He was a natural. Unfortunately, that meant he was more than likely after the same thing they were.

Eliot scowled, hiding it in the platter of hors d'oeuvres he was carrying, now carefully plotting a course that took him well clear of the young man and his damnably pretty face. "Guys, we have a problem standing right next to Crawford."

"Like...what? That pretty boy?" Hardison scoffed in his mic. "He ain't even dry behind the ears yet. What makes you think he's after the SD card?"

"Because it's the most valuable thing in this room." And that 'boy' was a player.

"Yeah, attached to the guy that never, ever puts his phone down." Parker chimed in from her place with another platter of food on the other side of the ballroom. 

"Well, obviously he seems to think he can persuade the man to go hands-free for a bit," Sophie observed wryly. Her own days of playing the honey pot were far, far in the fading past, but she knew what she was seeing right in front of her face. It was adorable how innocent they all were. Except for Nate, standing right by her in the crowd.

"Well, now, we can't let him do that, can we? The cello recital is coming up in ten minutes. Eliot, dump the tray and do a quick change. I'm sending you in to warn the boy away." Nate said it flatly, as if it mattered not a bit to him whether Eliot would choose to just scare the boy off or beat him up. 

Nate scared Eliot a little sometimes, and that was not an easy feat.

"Why can't you and Sophie do it? You're already in." And working their way closer to the mark every minute.

"Because we are not his type. He'll want to go with you," Nate murmured into his champagne. 

Alec made an aggrieved sound from the back of Lucille. "That's just nasty, y'all."

Three voices chorused softly, "Shut up, Hardison."

Eliot, resigned to his fate, put down his tray and made his way toward the staff restroom, turning off at the last moment into a nondescript door that led into the bowels of the hotel. They'd stashed emergency costume changes, and he managed to get into a tux, tie a bowtie, and put his hair back in a neat tail at the nape of his neck all in time to approach the young man as he and Crawford moved toward the recital. 

Crawford was distracted, speaking to a woman in a gown that physically hurt to look at, so Eliot seized his moment, wrapping a big hand around the young man's arm. "Don't do it. That card is ours."

Rather than starting like a frightened bunny rabbit, the mystery man turned ridiculously blue eyes to meet Eliot's and simply said, "Why?"

There was something there - an intelligence, a humanity - that caught Eliot completely off-guard. "Meet me in the bathroom. I'll tell you why. But...it's important."

Blue Eyes cocked his head and regarded him evenly. "Five minutes. As soon as the program starts."

"Five minutes." Eliot let him go, . 

"What was that, Eliot?" Nate asked him evenly, a sure sign he was pissed.

"That was me making a call. I think I can flip him." And if the most important thing in this room was that SD card, Nate would let him try. Getting it was all that mattered.

"Then you'd better. Flip him." Nate went silent after that, and Eliot made his way toward the restrooms, which were spacious and as over-decorated as the prancing flamingos outside. Did flamingos even prance? 

Eliot, one track of his mind running down a useless but amusing litany of what flamingos would look like if they in fact pranced, waited until the last person in the bathroom left, and stood by the door. Thanks to the performance beginning, it was easy to grab Blue Eyes the second he came in, shut the door and lock it before putting the other man up against it. 

All Blue Eyes did was shut his eyes halfway and turn a fraction to the side, as if he'd been expecting to get jumped all along. Eliot felt like a grade A asshole. He pulled away, shaking his head. "I'm sorry I scared you. Can we start over? I'm Eliot."

"I'm Neal." The artfully tousled head of dark hair cocked to one side in regard. Funny, Eliot thought it might even be his actual name, or close to it. And Neal was looking at him with more than curiosity - there was something there, a low-key flirtatiousness that Eliot found himself responding to. Clearly, the scare hadn't stuck.

"Okay, Neal..." Eliot met his eyes, and willed himself not to be as threatening as usual. He had a feeling that he was the one being studied here, weighed. It was unsettling. "Why do you want the card?"

"It's up for sale to the highest bidder, and I need a win. It's as simple as that," Neal pronounced calmly, as if charming his way into the bed of one of the best-protected men in the country was actually a simple feat.

"Do you even care what's on it?" Eliot regarded him right back, watching his reactions carefully. 

"I'm fairly sure it's some sort of pharmaceutical data. I mean, it's not the nuclear launch codes or anything. I wasn't kidding when I said I _need_ a win." Big eyes suddenly fixed on him. "What do I need to do to get you and your friends to let it go?"

"There's nothing you can do. You wanna know what's on that card? It's pharma data, all right, but it's not the cure for the common cold. It's study results - that company has been testing its poisons on children. We're working for a six year old with bone cancer." Eliot let the rage he felt about this stunning injustice rise to the surface, shine through. 

Neal's eyes darkened. "Is that true? Is Crawford doing that? With children?"

"Every word of it. If we had time, I'd tell you more. We're going to get that data, and then we are going to put him in a hole and sue his company for every fucking penny, and all of it will be for those kids." Eliot stepped back just a hair, and was honestly surprised when Neal closed the gap and just kept walking till he was chest to chest with Eliot.

"Two things." Neal pressed two fingers gently into Eliot's chest. The first lifted. "One, I get a shot to join your crew." Eliot's eyes flew open. "What do you think? Do you need another grifter, forger, second story man?"

"I think I can at least get you an introduction. Let you do your thing." Because Eliot was sure that the whole crew was listening, probably with popcorn in the back of Lucille, with avid attention. Neal most definitely had a 'thing.' 

"Okay." The second finger lifted, and the tiny SD card was nestled between Neal's knuckles. "Two. Here's your card. Got it off him right before the party, but I haven't been able to get rid of him since." There was enough loathing in Neal's voice that Eliot was quite sure that Crawford had been as cruel and demanding in the bedroom as he'd been in the boardroom. 

Eliot took it, and slid it into a case and then into his pocket. "Thank you..." 

It was all he got out before Neal was immediately in his space, pressing their lips together more than a little frantically. Eliot froze for a heartbeat, but then he had Neal in his arms and was kissing back with just as much sudden, stabbing hunger. Before he knew it, he had Neal up against the door of the bathroom stall, one thigh shoved messily up between Neal's. 

Ordinarily, would never have forgotten about the mic, or put the job on the back burner even for a second, but this one time...how could he ignore this? The sudden bloom of irradiating heat that he hadn't felt in more years than he could count. Eliot couldn't say how long he spent making out with Neal against that door, but it was probably far too long. 

"We have to get out of here," Eliot murmured hoarsely against the pale skin of Neal's long neck. 

"We really do." At least Neal was still thinking, albeit not very clearly.

Eliot took a moment to look into Neal's lust-darkened eyes, worried that the other man was too far gone to think clearly. The naked, sharp intelligence he saw staring back at him was almost shocking. "I'm good, Eliot."

"Yeah, you are." Eliot let him go, and they straightened up their clothes and each other's hair. There was something incredibly intimate about letting Neal comb his long, dexterous fingers through his hair to put his ponytail back in order. And Neal practically purred when he did the same for him, ruffling that carefully messy hair back into a semblance of its former glory. 

"We'll revisit this later?" Neal asked, elegant hand on the bathroom stall latch. Despite the fact that they'd just come halfway to fucking in a bathroom stall hadn't even begun to sully his beauty and his grace. 

"Yeah. We will," Eliot growled, stealing in to kiss him one last time, almost tenderly. It made Neal blush, which was so sweet it almost made Eliot's teeth ache. "Rendezvous by the catering trucks near the dumpsters out back. I'll grab you."

"I think you done grabbed him enough," Hardison drawled in his ear, finally breaking radio silence just to bust him. He probably deserved it.

Neal nodded and slipped out of the stall, and then the bathroom. From the sound of it, the concert was wrapping up. Time for him to follow Neal's lead and go skulk around the dumpsters. 

Eliot found Parker out there skulking already, because it was Parker and Parker loved to skulk. 

"So...um. You're gonna put Neal in the van and we, what? Interview him?" Thankfully, she omitted the making out part of the conversation - he'd get enough about it from Hardison and Sophie.

"That's the plan. When given the opportunity, he did the right thing. How many people in this line of work do that?" Eliot asked, aware he sounded a little defensive. Or maybe embarrassed. It was hard for him to tell.

"Yeah. We did." Parker shrugged one slim shoulder. 

Just then, Neal came around the last dumpster in the row, and it really wasn't fair how he still looked elegant and put together surrounded by trash and the smells of god-only-knew-what. "I can't say I'm sorry to see the last of Crawford," he said with a wry smile. 

"C'mon, let's just get in the van." Eliot was a little more gruff than usual because Neal had a way of putting him off his guard. They couldn't really have anything beside mutually fulfilling and likely mind-blowing sex. He didn't do relationships, and he definitely did not do them with team members. 

Lucille was parked around the corner in the alley, and Parker slipped in the back first, followed by Neal and then Eliot. If Neal was at all nervous about sliding into a seat in a den of thieves, it didn't show. 

"Hi. I'm Neal Caffrey." As if that was a perfectly normal thing to be. 

"I'm Sophie Devereaux, this is Nate Ford and Alec Hardison. I believe you've already met Eliot." It was subtle, but the teasing was there, just like Eliot expected.

Hardison just laughed. "Man, I have to say this is a first."

Nate took a swig from his flask and drawled, "Consider this the beginning of your interview. Why did you give up the card?" 

"Because Crawford is a scumbag, and it was the right thing to do?" Neal answered, as if it were obvious. 

Hardison took the card from Eliot and put it in a tiny card reader, bringing the data up on the screen and scrolling through it impressively quickly, his eyes and mind processing the information at light speed. "This is it - exactly what we were hoping for."

"Good. I hope I can help you use it to bring that bastard down. Preying on children is...not okay." Neal's words were simple, obvious, but Eliot heard a nuance, as if maybe once upon a time, Neal was a child being preyed upon himself. The thought made him want to growl.

"What do you want out of us?" Sophie asked, smoothing down the wrinkles in her short dress. "I mean, you certainly seem to have the skills to grift and thieve, but why us?"

"It felt good." At that, Hardison could not physically hold in the snicker. Neal just smiled that wry smile again, blushing a little. "I mean, I make it a point never to steal anything that will hurt anyone." Rob from the rich only, not from sick kids. It should never have to be spelled out, but in their world it was necessary.

"Sometimes it feels like shit," Nate added philosophically. "Sometimes, you do everything in your power, and you lose."

"I have a feeling that doesn't happen to you guys very often." Neal's wry smile turned megawatt charming in a heartbeat.

Hardison crawled up and started driving them back to their hotel, where he could do more with the data on the card and start the process of bringing Crawford to his knees. Eliot settled next to Neal and looked over at him. He was as poised and confident as he was inside the party.

_Wonder what it'll be like to unravel him? Mess him up?_ Eliot was a little ashamed of himself for thinking of it like that, but on the other hand, he had to wonder how long it had been since someone really did right by the kid.

Once back at the hotel, Neal stripped off the jacket and undid the bowtie and the first button of his shirt. Eliot was most assuredly not watching, and definitely not imagining stripping off the rest of his clothes and sucking him off. 

After laying the jacket on the back of a chair, Neal proceeded to spill everything he knew about Crawford. Much of it they'd already known, but he was able to fill in several gaps that had been puzzling the crew from the beginning. The man was truly a scumbag, and Hardison was practically dancing with glee in his chair as he brought the man down with a few well-placed keystrokes.

Soon, Neal was laughing and trading jokes with the group just like any one of them. Eliot had to hand it to him - he was a chameleon. Not that he thought Neal was being insincere, exactly. He just noticed that the laughter didn't steal its way up to those pretty eyes of his. Something was haunting him, maybe more than one something, but Eliot planned to exorcise a few demons for Neal tonight. 

Maybe he could make Neal smile. Maybe he could make him scream Eliot's name. 

Too bad that Eliot had no interest whatsoever in a realationship. Especially not with a sweet, hot little grifter who was apparently already in the process of being adopted into his own adopted family. That would make it almost incestuous, wouldn't it?

Well, incestuous or not, as soon as the proceedings started to wind down, he was there with an offer to give Neal a ride back to wherever he was staying. He pointedly ignored all the knowing looks and smothered smiles when Neal hastened to take him up on it. 

Once in the rental car, Neal looked over at him through his long lashes. Eliot caught that glance and held it for a long moment, until he couldn't physically restrain himself from leaning over and catching Neal by the mouth in another hungry, consuming kiss. 

Neal made a low noise and fisted a hand in Eliot's hair, holding him in place demandingly as the kiss grew into another, and another, neither of them particularly willing to come up for air. Eliot couldn't even think - and that was another reason for his no-relationsip rule. Anyone who could make him thoughtless from kissing would eventually get him killed.

Even that thought wasn't enough to pull him out of the moment. It just made him growl a little in his chest, which was immediately answered with an almost submissive whimper from Neal. Eliot reached across to palm Neal's hard cock through his expensive trousers, trying to find a good reason not to take him in hand and get him off right here and now. 

"No..." Neal breathed, reaching down to still the hand already going to his zipper. "Wanna come with your cock inside me."

Eliot hissed and slowly pulled his hand back, ending the kiss finally with their foreheads pressed together. "Tell me your place is close."

"It's close. But I have to warn you, it's not very nice." Neal colored, presumably in embarrassment.

"Does it have you in it, naked and opened up for me, desperate for me to fuck you?" Eliot murmured the words against Neal's sensitive lips, swollen fetchingly from all the rough kissing.

"Fuck. Yes, yes it will." Neal was trembling a little under Eliot's touch. Poor kid - he was still so fucking young, and Eliot knew he could be a force of nature. 

"Then it'll be perfect. Let's go, yeah?" Eliot pulled away, movement slow, reluctant. Gentle, like he was handling a skittish colt. 

"Yeah...yeah." Neal buckled up, and gave Eliot directions until they were outside a dingy motel. "I wasn't kidding when I said I needed that score." He gave a wry shrug.

"We'll take care of you now." Neal may not have been part of the original score that set them all for life, but Eliot would be damned if Neal would continue living in squalor. Hardison set them up with that dummy corporation - surely they could give Neal a salary out of that. 

Eliot got out of the car first, uncaring of the dodgy neighborhood in the manner of a person who has nothing to fear. He kept an instinctive eye out for any real danger as Neal emerged from the car, but it was just the usual complement of whores and johns and dealers. 

Neal's room was on the second floor, and once they were inside and the door was latched, Eliot found himself with an armful of horny young man trying to crawl inside him via his mouth. It'd be so easy, so so easy, to just give in and do this thing with heedless of the ethics of the situation. 

Eliot wasn't that kind of man.

"Hey...hey, gorgeous, shhh..." Eliot gently removed Neal to arms-length and looked him in the eyes. "I don't want to be an asshole. I just want to make sure you know that I'm not looking for a relationship."

"A...relationship?" Neal licked his lips. "So this is a one-off?" 

"I don't want it to be, that's why I'm telling you this. I don't want to hurt you." That peek of Neal's tongue was incredibly distracting.

"Ah, okay." Neal shrugged one shoulder, like he negotiated these things regularly. "No strings attached. Got it." 

"You sure you got it?" Eliot cocked his head, studying that too-pretty face. 

"Will you just fuck me, already?" Neal's mouth crooked at a corner as he stepped back and pulled his shirt out of his pants to unbutton it. Under the crisp cotton, he had a lean, long build. A swimmer, maybe a runner, maybe both. 

Whatever his exercise regimen, Eliot lost his goddamned mind at the sight, closing the distance and shoving the cloth to the dubious carpet. His hands wandered over Neal's chest, and he thumbed small, tight nipples before pinching them lightly, mouth-to-mouth with Neal so he could swallow every hungry little noise the boy made. 

Everything he saw, heard, felt made him want to take Neal apart.

"How old are you, anyway?" Eliot bit at Neal's lower lip.

"Old enough." Or maybe 'none of your goddamned business.' Or maybe 'too young for you to fuck,' but Eliot was pretty sure that wasn't true. In any event, it didn't stop him from dropping down to his knees and rubbing his face against the hardness trapped inside too many layers of cloth. 

Neal gasped and Eliot could feel him reel on his feet a little. "Jesus, Eliot..." When Eliot stole a look up at Neal's face, he saw stark disbelief. Clearly, he'd expected that he was here to service Eliot, and this development was a shock to his system.

It was a shock he'd have to learn to live with, because Eliot freed Neal's hard cock, ruddy and slick at the tip, and there was no way in hell it was going anywhere but in his mouth. Neal did cry out then, and his hands definitely shook when they found their inevitable way into Eliot's hair. 

"Eliot, god, I'm not going last, I'm not..." Neal stared down at him, half-embarrassed, but too turned on to do anything about it.

Eliot stopped sucking at that sweet cock long enough to look up. "I want you to come. Don't you dare hold back." He tried not to think about how this must be making Neal feel. Feelings weren't part of this. "Gonna make you come so many times tonight you're gonna forget your name."

When he took Neal's cock back into his mouth, Neal didn't even try to hold back. He shuddered hard and managed to get Eliot's name out as he convulsed in orgasm. Eliot had to work at swallowing it all down. But what a sweet endeavor it was. Even sweeter was scooping the lithe body up in his arms before he fell over and cradling him in his arms as he carried him to bed and finished stripping him. 

"Christ, you're beautiful," he murmured before getting rid of his own clothes and crawling on top of Neal, who lifted pleasure-heavy limbs to cradle him. _Too beautiful._

"You surprised me," Neal whispered, leaning up for another kiss. Slower, sweeter. 

"I'm not done yet." Eliot rubbed his cock against the smooth crease of Neal's hip, leaving a trail of slick precome.

"Thank God." Neal was coming back around with a vengeance, his cock hardening again against Eliot's. "Please...I want to taste you."

Like Eliot was going to argue with that. He rolled and brought Neal on top of him. "Turn around, hm?"

Neal complied with a gratifying alacrity, and Eliot tugged at his narrow hips until his ass was right where he wanted it. His calloused fingers dug gently into the tender flesh, pulling Neal open so he could see the tight little hole. He groaned at the first brush of his tongue across the crinkled flesh. Neal made a strangled noise as his cock jerked against Eliot's belly. 

Then Neal managed to pull it together enough to wrap his mouth around Eliot's straining prick, taking in just the head at first to lick up all the precome. Eliot had figured the boy's mouth would be talented, but as Neal began to suck in earnest, he had to raise the rating to world-class. He viciously suppressed the part of his mind that found it tragic that someone so young was so very good at this.

Instead, he focused on the the fact that after a few warm-up swipes of tongue and long, slow sucks, Neal swallowed him right down his throat. Eliot could feel Neal breathing hard through his nose, and he was careful not to thrust up into that tight, wet heat. "Fuck, Neal...nobody's ever..."

The response was a muffled vibration around his cock as Neal chuckled in response. They were both full of surprises, it would seem. In sheer desperation not to come then and there, Eliot plied his own set of skills. He pulled the little pucker open wider and swiped his tongue inside, tasting deep and making Neal quiver on top of him. 

Neal was so fucking responsive it was like a drug. He could feel those muscles flex around his tongue and he squeezed the ripe flesh of Neal's ass. He wanted to offer up a few slaps, but Neal's vulnerability was too sharp, too real for him to hurt the boy, even in play. 

Eliot growled protectively and then his hips shot up against his will when Neal did something particularly clever with his tongue. "Fuck, Neal...c'mere." He curled a broad hand in Neal's soft hair and gently pulled him up till Neal's mouth relinquished his cock, and they were face to face. 

Neal had zero qualms about diving in for a messy, open-mouthed kiss, tugging until Eliot was on top of him and their cocks were rubbing together. "Fuck me. C'mon...can't stand it." Neal's voice was breathy and hoarse from Eliot's cock.

That plea went straight to Eliot's balls, and he was honestly shocked by how ragged he felt right now, how little control he felt he had. "You got something slick?" 

Neal flailed out with one hand and pulled the nightstand drawer right out, accidentally dumping the contents on the floor. "Jesus..."

"I got it, gorgeous." Eliot felt around until he found the tube of lube, slicking up his fingers and rubbing them around Neal's grasping hole. 

"Two...give me two," Neal whispered against his mouth, and Eliot gave him what he wanted. Damn, but that boy was like an inferno inside, clinging and flexing around his fingers. 

"You're gonna feel so fucking good around my cock," Eliot said, looking Neal right in the eyes as he found his prostate and rubbed. The reaction was an immediate flush to already-blushing skin and a cry like he was flying apart. Neal's fingers curled hard into Eliot's shoulders.

"Think so? How about you hurry up and get inside me and find out?" Neal breathed, rutting down on Eliot's fingers.

"You're a brat, you know that?" Eliot's voice was low and hoarse and fond as he pressed his forehead to Neal's, sliding his fingers out and slicking up his cock without looking down. 

"Been told." Neal ran his long, sensitive hands down Eliot's back, scratching at the muscled flesh, and his heels came up to dig into Eliot's ass, pulling him forward until the big cock speared into him. 

Eliot gasped and drove in deeper, not stopping until his cock was buried in all that glorious heat. It was like an inferno, swallowing him whole and begging for more in ragged moans. "Damn, darlin'..."

He hadn't meant to say that, to call Neal that. It wasn't fair. But once it slipped past his lips it sounded right. Eliot clamped down on that line of thought and moved his hips, starting a rhythm with a liquid thrust that felt like heaven. 

Neal was obviously in agreement, raising his hips to meet Eliot's thrusts, hair a mess against the pillow where he ground down against it to arch his lithe body up. "Eliot...Eliot, god..." 

"Shhh, I got you...give you just what you need." Eliot angled his hips, found Neal's sweet spot, and ruthlessly exploited it. He knew he was tearing this boy apart, but he found he couldn't help himself. 

Bracing his body on one strong arm, he reached down and took Neal's straining cock in his hand, stroking it firmly, and for a long moment Neal stilled and made a sound that could only be called relieved. It lasted just a second, and then Neal was convulsing in orgasm, and it was so beautiful that Eliot had to just watch. When Neal was finally finished, he still managed to squeeze tight around Eliot's cock, forcing him to give it up just as thoroughly as Neal had. 

Neal spoke first, his voice still hoarse. "Damn, Eliot...you do not disappoint." Eliot had the distinct impression that those were not the words that wanted to come out of Neal's mouth. 

Eliot slowly withdrew and resisted the urge to cuddle Neal up in his arms with all his might. Instead, he stroked his hand up and down Neal's chest and pressed himself along his flank. "You good?"

"I'm fantastic." A bit wrung out, maybe, but well and truly sated. For the moment. 

By the time the sun came up, they'd fucked twice more - once with Neal on his knees, face pressed hard into the thin pillows, and then with Neal on top, ignoring the soreness he must surely be feeling as he rode Eliot's cock with a look of bliss on his face. He set a slow pace, the early morning light through the dusty curtains falling across his face and sweaty body making him look like a roughed-up angel. 

Later, as Eliot gathered his clothes after a quick shower, he told Neal, "We're leaving at eleven. Meet us at the hotel. Okay?" As if the boy was going to do a runner after the last twelve hours. 

"Okay. I'll be there." Neal smiled at him, and reached out to tuck a strand of damp hair behind Eliot's ear. "How much shit are we going to get for this?"

"A lot. Really. A hell of a lot. But they're family - what can you expect?"


End file.
